Us Airways

US Airways Group Inc. cleared its last big hurdle in restructuring when the government said it had approved the carrier's proposal to terminate its pilots' pension plan and replace it with a cheaper one. The action by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a federal corporation, clears the way for the airline to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday.

US Airways Group Inc., attempting to avoid a second trip into bankruptcy, said it was seeking to conserve cash by delaying required payments to its machinists' and flight attendants' pension plans. The airline said it would ask the Internal Revenue Service for permission to defer about $68 million in funds for those plans, making payments over the next five years, rather than the next 18 months.

The clock has begun ticking in a possible showdown between US Airways and the union representing its flight attendants. The National Mediation Board has started a 30-day cooling-off period. If no deal is reached, the carrier's 10,000 attendants will be free to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. EST on March 25. But in a letter to employees, US Airways officials vowed to ground the airline rather than endure the surprise strikes threatened by the Assn. of Flight Attendants.

US Airways Group Inc., the sixth-largest U.S. carrier, said it won't make a profit in its third quarter because operational problems are leading to canceled flights and lost customers. The Arlington, Va.-based airline didn't issue a specific forecast and wouldn't say whether it would break even or post a loss. It had been expected to earn 89 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts in a First Call survey, compared with $1.51 last year.

The union representing US Airways flight attendants released a list of 49 flight routes that members are threatening to strike at random if the company does not agree to pay raises and other contract demands. The Assn. of Flight Attendants said it was releasing the list before the planned March 25 strike action so customers would have time to book flights on other airlines.

US Airways Group Inc.'s flight attendants union asked a federal agency to release it from contract talks with the carrier, saying the two sides can't reach agreement. The Assn. of Flight Attendants, which represents about 9,800 US Airways workers, must get permission from the National Mediation Board to end negotiations. Once the board agrees to end the talks, it offers both sides arbitration.

Mechanics and aircraft cleaners at US Airways have overwhelmingly approved a new five-year labor contract, eliminating a major strike threat at the nation's sixth-largest airline. A spokesman for the International Assn. of Machinists said 74% of the members voting approved the contract, which covers 7,500 workers. IAM members had rejected an earlier contract agreement in July, and there was concern they might reject the latest offer as well.

US Airways Group Inc., piling on a month of bad news beginning with its collapsed merger with United Airlines parent UAL Corp., said it will post a loss of more than $160 million for its third quarter because of drooping business travel. The loss would be twice as much as Wall Street expected. The Arlington,Va.

US Airways Group Inc. stockholders overwhelmingly backed management's plan for the airline to be purchased by United Airlines parent UAL Corp. for $60 a share. With US Airways shares stuck at about $32 recently, a final tally of votes at a special shareholder meeting showed 98.5% of ballots in favor of the $4.3-billion deal that was first announced in May. The merger of Arlington, Va.-based US Airways, the No. 6 U.S.

US Airways Group Inc. said it expects a first-quarter loss substantially larger than Wall Street had expected due to a falloff in business bookings and tight East Coast competition. US Airways, which has agreed to be bought by United Airlines parent UAL Corp. for about $4.3 billion, said the results will be "well below" the average analysts' forecast of a first-quarter loss of $1.12 a share, but it did not give more details.